Bottle closure



y 4 F. OTTENSTEIN 2,404,741

' BOTTLE CLOSURE Filed March 27, 1942 Patented July 23, 1946 BOTTLE CLOSURE Friedrich Ottenstein,

Copenhagen,

Denmark;

vested in the Alien Property Custodian Application March 27, 1942, Serial No. 436,532 In Denmark March 27, 1941 5 Claims.

In the manufacture of bottle closures of the crown-cork-type, sealing discs of cork or of cellulose in a worked state, such as cardboard, have been used.

The principal object of the present invention is, as a substitute for cork, to employ a special kind of cellulose material one surface oi which, according to a further feature of the invention, is corrugated.

A further object of the invention is to secure the highest elasticity at the required points of the sealing disc and for this purpose to use two or more discs, the dimensioning of the discs and the pasting together of the same at special points being further features of the invention.

The cellulose materia1 employed i. e. pulpboard without the addition of glue or filling materials, usually used in paper making, does not in the same degree as cork possess the plastic and elastic properties which are characteristic of this material, and it is therefore, another object of the invention to take advantage of the natural qualities of the pulpboard, including its tenacity and toughness combined with some degree of alasticity; and to employ the special shaping of the surface of the pulp obtained by rolling or pressing the same While dry and consisting in little inden tations providing maximum elasticity.

These small indentations, which are only found on one side of the disc, in no way influence the structure of the mass, as they are formed during the composition of the same, and are, therefore, quite different from indentations made by special tools in paper board, which is hardened by glue and filling materials, so that such indentures will considerably weaken the structure.

Cellulose material of the kind dealt with will for the same reason be very cheap in use, as it does not require any special treatment apart from the one it has already been subjected to during its drying, rolling or pressing.

When the sealing disc is placed in the part of the bottle closure consisting of the usual outer metal crown, the corrugated side of the disc is turned inward towards the metal so as to give way at points when pressure is applied to it.

The other side of the disc has a comparatively smooth surface, so that in conventional manner it may be covered with a protective layer 5 of high flexibility such as Cellophane, with or without a further protective layer 5 consisting of a, central aluminium spot.

Further, according to the invention two or more layers of the above mentioned material may be employed, in which case the corrugated surfaces are turned against each other whereby a. sufiicient degree of elasticity is obtained.

In the preferred form of the invention, combining two layers of cellulose material in the sealing disc, it is important for the further handling of the layer when placing the same in the metal crown and pressing the crown onto the bottle and also for the purpose of obtaining the proper degree of elasticity, that the corrugations on the facing sides of the layers take up a fixed position adjacent to each other, so that they'are not displaced in relation to each other. The position of the little indentations over the surface of each layer is not exactly uniform, and, the position of the indentations in relation to each other is therefore non-uniform. It is, however, of importance that the relative position be kept constant. The layers or discs may therefore be glued together, as indicated at I, so that the points, which haye contact with each other, remain in contact and so that on the other hand around these points areas will be found which do not contact and where, when the sealing disc in its entirety is subjected to high pressure, will give Way and thereby increase the elasticity of the disc considerably. I

It has appeared to be of the greatest advantage to choose the diameter of one of the discs forming the complete sealing disc somewhat smaller than that of the other and in a sealing disc of this nature to glue only the central parts of the layers forming the disc together.

Referring in detail to the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a single layer of pulpboard according to the invention, and Fig. 2 shows on an enlarged scale, a transverse cross section of a bottle closure of thecrown cork type with a sealing disc consisting of two layers placed th'erein, one of larger diameter than the other; and Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing a modification.

By employing a sealing disc of the nature indicated, in which the two layers are only glued together by their central parts, the outer edge of the large layer will lie rigidly against the bend of the outer crown shell, while the entire disc because of the upper layer, which has a smaller diameter of less dimension, may follow the bottom of the metal crown, when it is bent and deformed by the pressure created, when the bottle closure is pressed onto the bottle.

The sealing disc will under these circumstances give way with a certain degree of resiliency. The advantage obtained by gluing the layers together at certain points has been described above, and this advantage is naturally maintained in the special embodiment dealt with here, but the disadvantage presentedv due to the fact that the discs, when the adhesive material in the course of time becomes hardened, and the resiliency therefore diminished, is avoided, as only the outer edges, which should be most active because they are the parts of the disc which are subjected to the most pressure, are free to slide on each other.

The upper edge of the bottle mouth will not press directly upon the extreme outer edge of the sealing disc, but if one bisects the radius of the same the pressure from the bottle neck will act approximately in the centre of the middle of the outer half of the bisected radius. By letting the pressure act approximately at the edge 'of the upper layer of less diameter the same will be better adapted to give way and add to the resiliency of the entire sealing disc.

In the drawing l is the plane part of the outer metal shell, 2 the edge of the shell, and 4 and 3 the upper and lower layers of the complete sealing disc. As it will be seen from the drawing the lower layer 3 has a circumference, which reaches out to the edge of the crown cork metal shell 2, while the upper layer 4 is somewhat smaller. If the disc is subjected to pressure acting in the direction of the arrow A the lower layer 3 will give way and may be bent without meeting any obstacles. Because of the rigidit of the material employed, the entire sealing disc has considerable elastic properties.

Figure 3 shows, in cross section similar to Figure 2, another embodiment of the invention which has a Cellophane disk 5 under the disk 3, and a smaller metal foil spot 6 on the underside of the Cellophane disk.

Having now described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a crown type bottle closure, a skirted cap, a sealing disk engaging the undersurface of the top of the cap, said disk comprising two circular plates of unfilled pulpboard, one of the plates being corrugated on the side thereof facing the top of the cap and being plane on its op posite side, and the plates being cemented together over a limited centralized area whereby the edge portions of at least one of the disks is left free to flex relative to edge portions of the other disk.

, 4 facing sides to define multiplicities of relatively small projections, central areas of the corrugated sides being glued together and marginal areas thereof unglued to permit said marginal areas to work relative to eachother as the cap is'installed on the bottle.

3. The combination with the mouth of bottle terminating in a circular rounded lip, of a crown type closure comprising a skirted cap to securely engage over said lip and close the mouth, a sealing disk engaging the undersurfaceof the top of the cap within the skirt thereof, said disk comprising two circular plates of unfilled pulpboard corrugated to define multiplicities of relatively small projections on their facing sides, said plates being substantially plane on their other sides, and limited centralized'areasxof the facing sides of the plates being glued together, with the remaining marginal portions of the plates free and capable of being deformed relative to each other as the cap is forced on the bottle with the marginal portion of the lower of the two plates in engagement with the lip of the bottle.

4. A sealing disk for a skirted crown type closure to fit over a bottle mouth, said sealing disk being adapted to engage the underside of the top of the cap, said disk comprising two circular plates of unfilled pulpboard, at least one of which is of a diameter to substantially fit within the skirt of the cap, the facing sides of said plates being corrugated to define multiplicities of relatively small projections thereon with the opposite sides of the plates being uncorrugated, and with limited central areas of the corrugated sides of the plates glued together so as to leave marginal portions thereof free to be deformed relative to each other when the closure is applied to a bottle.

5. A bottle mouth closure of the crown type including a skirted cap and a sealing disk engaging the underside of the top of the cap and surrounded by the skirt of the cap, said sealing disk being composed of two layers of purified pulpboard devoid of sizing or filling, said two layers being corrugated on their meeting surfaces whereby the natural elasticity and conformability of the pulpboard is substantially increased, the layer adjacent to the underside of the top of the cap being smaller in diameter than the other layer whereby the peripheral portion of the larger diameter layer is freed to be deformed relative to the smaller diameter layer and relative to the top and skirt of the cap as the closure is applied to close the bottle mouth.

FRIEDRICH OTTENS'IEIN. 

